Abstract
The aim of this study is to explore how the media influences people’s body image.
This paper will examine how the media portrays its beauty ideal. Different models to
measure body image will also be examined. A cross-section questionnaire study was
carried out using independent samples. One hundred participants were involved, fifty
of whom were students from Dublin Business School.The remaining fifty were picked
randomly from the public. The questionnaire included of a participant information
sheet, The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire devised by
Heinburg & Thompson, 1995, the Body Shape Questionnaire devised by Cooper et
al.(1986). Average media influence was tested as a predictor variable. ANOVA tests
indicated that there were some differences in outcome measure regarding body shape
and frequency.
